Brewing a Orange Blonde Ale

[Uriel homebrewer]

I'm working on a new recipe for a Spiced Blonde Ale. After my first batch—which was both a failure and a success—I ended up with surprisingly good results despite the mistakes. It taught me a lot, and now I feel ready to try again, building on that recipe with a few tweaks.

This time, my recipe will be for 5 liters and will include equal parts of Pilsner and Vienna malts, 625g each, plus 50g of Cara-Clair.
For hops, I'll use 12g of Styrian Golding leaf hops. I’ll also add 25g of orange zest and 60ml of natural orange juice (pasteurized and filtered).
Finally, I'll ferment with US-05 yeast.

I want to brew a citrusy Blonde Ale with a noticeable orange flavor and aroma, not too bitter, and easy to drink. The inspiration came from where I live—Algarve, Portugal—which is known for its citrus production. I was amazed by the taste and quality of the oranges from this region and thought it would be perfect to create a summer beer with that in mind. Something refreshing, citrus-forward, and distinctive. It’s also a way to recreate a beer I tasted years ago and haven't seen since.

Process:
Mashing:
5 liters of bottled water at 69°C for 60 minutes.
Grain Washing:
2 liters of water at 78°C.
Recirculation:
10-15 minutes.
Boil:
12g of Styrian Golding hops (leaf)
25g of orange zest

• 4g at the start of the boil.
• 8g at 30 minutes
• 20g of orange zest at the last 10 minutes.

Cooling:
Ice bath.

Add 60ml of pasteurized orange juice.
Add 4g of US-05 yeast.

Fermentation:
Ferment for 2-3 weeks at 22°C.
Cold Crash:
72 hours.
Clarification with Gelatin.
Cold crash for another 72 hours.
Natural Carbonation:
With table sugar.
Maturation:
4 weeks.

My goal: a beer similar to this, but clearer,
with improvements in body, foam, and flavor.

This is a photo of my first beer, a Belgian Strong Blonde Ale, ABV 8.2%, IBU 35-40, EBC 12.
With character, well-balanced, fruity/hoppy, with body and a good alcohol kick.

 

[Donoroto]

Instead of US05, consider a yeast that delivers an orange flavor, like Citrus from Imperial Yeast. There are several, check Google.

Styrian Goldings hops offer a citrus flavor, but more grapefruity and spicy. Belma is one that has more Orange, and again there are several.

 

[Uriel homebrewer]

Instead of US05, consider a yeast that delivers an orange flavor, like Citrus from Imperial Yeast. There are several, check Google.

Styrian Goldings hops offer a citrus flavor, but more grapefruity and spicy. Belma is one that has more Orange, and again there are several.

Thanks for the suggestion! I chose US-05 mainly because it's a clean and neutral yeast, and I wanted the orange notes to come mostly from the zest and juice. But I’ll definitely look into other yeasts like Imperial’s Citrus—it could be interesting to have that extra layer of flavor. Regarding the hops, I used Styrian Golding because it's what I had on hand, but I’ll check out Belma and other varieties with stronger orange character for future batches. Appreciate the tips!

 

[Sandy Feet]

I was able to get a bunch of citrus flavor in a New England IPA just from the yeast and hop additions. It smelled like a fruit bomb when I opened the fermenter without adding fruit. Late addition Mosaic hops I'm not sure you can get the White Labs Coastal Haze yeast overseas.
Use some zest too.

 

[Uriel homebrewer]

I was able to get a bunch of citrus flavor in a New England IPA just from the yeast and hop additions. It smelled like a fruit bomb when I opened the fermenter without adding fruit. Late addition Mosaic hops I'm not sure you can get the White Labs Coastal Haze yeast overseas.
Use some zest too.

I also got a strong fruity/citrusy aroma just from yeast and hops in a previous batch—no fruit added. This time, I want to bring in a distinct orange touch, so I’m experimenting with zest and juice. I'd love to try different yeasts eventually, but for now I only have US-05 for the next 3 batches haha!

 

[Donoroto]

I also got a strong fruity/citrusy aroma just from yeast and hops in a previous batch—no fruit added. This time, I want to bring in a distinct orange touch, so I’m experimenting with zest and juice. I'd love to try different yeasts eventually, but for now I only have US-05 for the next 3 batches haha!

It’ll do. As with all of us, we use what we can get. Somehow -magic? - it makes beer.

 

[Dave Y]

Can someone with more experience using orange zest jump in?

I think 25g is too high I used a similar amount in 5 gallons and it was too much. Way too much.

 

[Uriel homebrewer]

Can someone with more experience using orange zest jump in?

I think 25g is too high I used a similar amount in 5 gallons and it was too much. Way too much.

How did you use it? I’m planning to add it only at the end of the boil for aroma, and maybe use around 15-20g.

 

[Brewer #439151]

How did you use it? I’m planning to add it only at the end of the boil for aroma, and maybe use around 15-20g.

You could try to add it when doing the priming!

 

[Dave Y]

I added to the fermenter - I don’t recall when in the fermentation, I just remember it was not a lot of zest and it was a whole lot of overpowering flavor

I was warned not to overdo it and I thought I was conservative enough but no.

 

[Zambi]

It's often used in Belgian beers, I quite often use lime zest instead.
I think I used something like 5 gr per 10 litre and at 15 minutes.
I'll check and get back here

 

[Zambi]

Per 10 litre
Bitter orange dried, max 15 gr at 5 minutes
Citrus peel fresh, max 15 gr at 15 minutes
Sweet orange dried, max 15 gr at 15 minutes
(Taken from "verander water in bier", by Adrie Otte)

 

[Uriel homebrewer]

Per 10 litre
Bitter orange dried, max 15 gr at 5 minutes
Citrus peel fresh, max 15 gr at 15 minutes
Sweet orange dried, max 15 gr at 15 minutes
(Taken from "verander water in bier", by Adrie Otte)

Thanks for the information! I’ll give it a try and see how it turns out. Since I’ll be making 5 liters, I’m going to experiment with 7–8g of fresh zest. I’m also planning to make a tea with the orange zest today to check the intensity

 

[Uriel homebrewer]

I discovered that by making a tea with 250 ml of water and adding the approximate amount of zest you plan to use, you can test the intensity it will have when added during the boil. You remove the water from the heat and let it steep, covered, for 5 and 10 minutes respectively. Then, using a spoon, you take samples and taste them to assess the intensity or aroma.

Right now I’m experimenting with dried peels, using the equivalent of 7g of fresh zest.

 

[Zambi]

Interesting, but 250 ml instead of 5 litres?
Factor 20.
Not sure if that gives the same intensity, but keen to hear the results of your experiment

 

[Uriel homebrewer]

Interesting, but 250 ml instead of 5 litres?
Factor 20.
Not sure if that gives the same intensity, but keen to hear the results of your experiment

Objective of the experiment:
It's not to exactly replicate how it will feel in the beer, but rather to:

• Evaluate the relative aromatic intensity of the orange peel.
• Understand what dosage gives you the result you're aiming for.
• Detect any unwanted notes (bitterness, medicinal, etc.).

 

[Uriel homebrewer]

The experiment works — obviously the result needs to be scaled.

The light aroma after ten minutes of steeping, along with the clear, slight orange tint of the water, suggest that 7 or 8g of orange zest should be enough without being too overpowering.

I also tested with double the amount of peel, and after 10 minutes the result was much more intense.